It’s somewhat rare that brands discontinue popular bags from their popular collections, but we’ve been hearing a lot of buzz lately about the potential end of the Chanel Grand Shopping Tote–it might be a thing of the past in the near future. Or maybe it’s just getting a huge price increase. Or perhaps it’s simply being yanked from the American market because of its relatively low price point and market over-saturation? No one seems to know.

I first read of the GST’s looming demise yesterday on Mizhattan, which posits the story as fact rather than a rumor and reports on low stock level at several NYC-area stores. We then looked to our Chanel subforum over at PurseForum, which has a discussion on the GST’s theoretical disconinuation that dates back to December. In it, members from all over the world report on what they’ve been told by Chanel sales associates; many in the US have heard that the bag will soon be gone, while European readers are more likely to report that their SAs were baffled when they asked about the GST’s pending disappearance. One tPFer even contacted a Chanel boutique in Paris, where the associate told her that the GST is in the permanent collection and isn’t going anywhere.

Among the European Chanel lovers, the talk is instead of a future price increase; the GST is among the brand’s most attainably price bags for its size, and Chanel may be concerned that it’s diverting customers away from its other, more expensive bags of a similar size and type. Rumors about the GST also went around last year around this time, so who knows if this might just be another game of telephone gone awry.

We’ve reached out to our sources at Chanel; if we hear anything definitive back from them, we’ll update this post. In the meantime, have any of you heard any news from your regular SAs?